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Monday, October 29, 2012

I thought these healthy gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with bright orange frosting looked quite festive for halloween. You could even offer them to your children in exchange for their candy loot! My children normally go trick-or-treating and then come back home and give most of their candy away to the last of the trick-or-treaters. Oh what joy they have in doing this! Then they put whatever remaining candy they have next to their bed and in the middle of the night the hungry candy gnome comes to take it away. In exchange he leaves them some healthy treats like pomegranates, herbal tea bags, and oranges. Seriously, my children think pomegranates ARE candy and are absolutely thrilled to each have their own left by a mysterious candy gnome! If you plan on using this tradition with your children, it is best to start when they are young.I had an idea this year that moves away from the commercialized version of halloween to a more authentic one that embodies what halloween is truly about. I wanted to get a group of friends together and have a barn party with simple costumes, live music, homemade pumpkin treats, fresh vegetables, games, and a celebration of our ancestors. My children loved the idea! I am going to work on it for next year. For now we still have trick-or-treating, the candy gnome, and my homemade cupcakes.....

Grain-Free Chocolate Mini-Cupcakes with Yam Frosting

Serve these healthy mini-cupcakes for a halloween party, birthday party, or any other celebration. I used my Dairy-Free Cream Cheese frosting recipe which I normally make with white-fleshed sweet potatoes. You can find the recipe in our new book or here. Just use orange-fleshed yams in place of the white sweet potatoes. You can omit the applesauce if you like. I use it for the sour flavor normally found in real cream cheese. For the cocoa powder, I use Dagoba brand which is organic and gluten-free. Conventional chocolate production uses a massive amount of toxic chemicals so always, always buy organic!

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl or blender whisk or blend together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry and quickly whisk together.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. You will fill them all the way to the top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Frost with the Yam Frosting and decorate with unsweetened shredded coconut and raw cacao nibs. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

If you follow us on Facebook, be sure to head on over there and hover your curser over the "Liked" button and then check "Show in News Feed." Facebook recently changed their algorithm so most of our posts will not be showing up in your news feed unless you interact with our page. There you will see a recent photo my sister-in-law took of her halloween party food. It is really creative!

I am allergic to all dairy and gluten (wheat), use Splenda or Sweet n Low, avoid soy and yeast, and I desperately need recipes. I wouldn't mind soy and yeast that I avoid, that often, but really need W/O BOTH DAIRY and GLUTEN. Is there any way to combine those on your site? One might use the other! It's very difficult to go thru one and find something w/ the other in it, almost impossible time-wise. I'm so tired of eating the same old things. Love ur site, even if can't use much yet. Vicki K

For all of you asking about egg free cupcakes, you might try these with the frosting above: http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2009/04/vegan-grain-free-sugar-free-chocolate.html

Most of my baking these days is egg free and my general rule of thumb for replacing eggs with chia or flax seeds is to only do so in recipes with two or fewer eggs. Otherwise, it's like trying to make a quiche without eggs--not so practical. :-) You cannot replace 6 eggs in a cupcake recipe without just making a whole new recipe!

Hi everyone! The frosting recipe is linked in 2 places just above the recipe in the headnotes. It can be found on page 474 of our cookbook Nourishing Meals. The second link takes you to the pumpkin cupcake recipe where I explained in the blog post how I make it (it is slightly different from the recipe in the buckwheat cinnamon roll post--has more coconut oil). Just use orange-fleshed yams in place of the white sweet potatoes.

Since this recipe has 6 eggs you cannot use an egg replacer. But you can follow the link that Jennifer L. left for my vegan, grain-free chocolate cupcake recipe using almond flour.

We made these from the Nourishing Meals cookbook yesterday but substituted carrot for yam in the frosting as we didn't have yams on hand. It was delicious! The consistency was a bit thinner than I'd expected but stayed on the cupcakes nicely nonetheless.

Whoa Ali, these are amazing! I made both varieties (the egg ones and the vegan cupcakes) and they were both great. The mini-cupcakes were perfect for our preschool fiesta. I love the recipe above, but alas, both of my daughters are egg-intolerant and as one is still nursing, there will be no more eggs for me for quite a while. It was a worthy indulgence/experiment! Thank you!

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This blog was created by Ali and Tom of Whole Life Nutrition. We offer healthy whole foods recipes that happen to be gluten-free. Having 5 children, our focus tends to revolve around raising healthy kids. We also specialize in elimination diets, gluten sensitivity, and celiac disease.